The Online Print Coach, gives his advice on how to get ahead of your competition and ensure your business looks as good as it can when communicating with customers
If you want more sales, you don’t necessarily need more customers. What you need is a tighter system.
One of the most common issues I see in print businesses is holes in the Customer Value Journey (CVJ). It’s like having a beautifully printed brochure with a few scuffed corners and ragged edges; the core of the product is great, but it’s not presenting your business at its best. When your processes don’t guide your customers smoothly from interest to repeat order, you’re leaving money on the table.
Let me give you a few examples: no welcome email after someone signs up, no follow-up after a quote goes out, or no reminder when a customer hasn’t ordered in six months. These aren’t rare issues, they’re widespread, and they’re stopping good print businesses from becoming great print businesses.
Here’s the thing. Most print business owners think growth means going out and finding new leads. But often, the real opportunity is sitting right there, in your inbox, your CRM, or your re-order list. It’s about fixing what’s supposed to be working already.
If you’ve worked in print for more than five minutes, you know the difference between matt and silk, embossing and debossing, and roll folds and concertina folds. But your customers probably don’t, and that’s not their fault.
Where we go wrong is assuming what’s obvious to us is obvious to everyone else. That’s where your content can play a huge role. You don’t need to be flashy or overproduce things. A short explainer video, a simple guide, or a “did you know?” post can demystify print for your audience.
Your job isn’t to overwhelm people with technical jargon, it’s to be the print partner who makes it easy to understand and easy to buy
Your job isn’t to overwhelm people with technical jargon, it’s to be the print partner who makes it easy to understand and easy to buy. When you do that well, customers trust you, and trust leads to bigger jobs and longer relationships.
You wouldn’t hand a prospect that tatty brochure we mentioned earlier, would you? But some print websites still load like it’s 2005, slow, clunky, unresponsive, and riddled with broken links. That’s a branding problem, and worse, it’s a missed sales opportunity.
Your online presence speaks for you when you’re not in the room. That includes your website, your emails, your social posts, all of it. Research shows that up to 70% of the buying decision is made before a customer ever reaches out.
So, ask yourself: “What does your content say about your business?” Does it say you’re helpful, knowledgeable, and trustworthy? Or does it say you’re just trying to sell print? Your content should make customers feel like they’re already in safe hands, like they’d be mad to go anywhere else.
Time and again I’ve found that print businesses don’t need new clients to grow. They just need to serve their existing ones better.
Upselling gets a bad name, but it’s not about being pushy. It’s about making sure your customers actually know what you offer. If your best client walks in wearing branded workwear you didn’t supply or pulls up in a branded van you didn’t get a chance to quote for, that’s not just a missed opportunity, that’s a failure in communication.
You’ve already earned their trust. The hard part is done. But if they don’t know all the ways you can help them, you’re making it easy for someone else to win that work.
Right now, I’m seeing a clear divide in the print industry. The businesses that are growing aren’t necessarily the ones running huge ad campaigns or making the most noise. They’re the ones showing up, every day, every week, with discipline.
They’re posting useful content, they’re sharing real jobs they’ve delivered,they’re following up on quotes, and they’re running email and direct mail campaigns that educate instead of just promote.
There’s no secret sauce – just consistency, and that’s good news, because it means this is something you can do, too.
But here’s the danger: If you’re not showing up, someone else is.
Perfection is the enemy of progress. I’ve seen printers spend six months planning a new website, video series, or marketing campaign, and in the meantime, nothing gets launched, nothing gets tested, and nothing gets improved.
Here’s a hard truth: Your first version won’t be perfect, and that’s okay. The businesses that grow are the ones that move. They don’t wait until everything’s finished, they start, test, learn, and refine.
Marketing is a process, not a product. It’s never done, and it doesn’t need to be.
Another game-changer is visibility. I can’t count how many print businesses I’ve seen transform just by getting clarity on their pipeline.
If you don’t know what’s coming in, how can you steer the ship? A good CRM or MIS platform is more than just software. It gives you clarity, confidence, and control. It helps you track quotes, chase follow-ups, and keeps your sales stages organised. If you’re still juggling spreadsheets and email threads, it’s time to level up. You’ll be amazed how much easier it is to make decisions when you can see what’s going on.
In a recent coaching session, we got clear on one client’s ideal customer, and suddenly everything clicked. Their messaging sharpened, their confidence grew, and the noise from competitors faded into the background.
Trying to be everything to everyone is exhausting. The magic happens when you decide exactly who you’re for, and go all in.
So, ask yourself: Is there one niche you could double down on? One type of customer you could serve better than anyone else?
Because that’s where standout growth comes from. Not from chasing every possible job, but from becoming the go-to partner for a specific kind of work.
Print can be a complex business, but a growing one doesn’t need to be. More often than not, the path to growth isn’t about big new campaigns or lots of changes. It’s about fixing the basics, closing the gaps, showing up consistently, and making it easy for your customers to say yes.
Before you chase new leads, take a hard look at your journey. Are you really guiding your customers from the first click to repeat order? Or are you leaking opportunity at every stage?
Get visible, get consistent, and above all, get moving, because in this industry, momentum beats perfection every time.
